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Opportunity Abounds for Courageous CIOs

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IT executives today juggle more competing priorities than ever, but there’s also an unprecedented opportunity to help shape the future.

Virtually every company today is a technology company to some extent, and that means CIOs can play a more central role than ever in ushering their organizations into the future. As leaders of the IT function, they have nearly limitless opportunities to help shape their businesses, people, markets, and communities.

Traditionally, CIOs were expected to deliver efficient and reliable operations through their longstanding roles as technologists and operators, which allowed them to build credibility over the years. More recently, however, they’ve also had to focus on disruptive technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence, demonstrating that they’re staying ahead of the curve as business-savvy strategists and catalysts for innovation. Simultaneously, they’ve increasingly been expected to accelerate and optimize services delivery—while also developing and nurturing the talent needed to make all that happen.

As if that weren’t enough, business expectations from the C-suite include innovating, exploring, and experimenting with new products and services, advancing the ideation of new business models, and delivering top-line revenue growth while balancing overall cost structure. Expectations from the board and the market add yet another set of requirements to the CIO’s to-do list, including managing risk, increasing shareholder value, and developing engaging new platforms and solutions.

How can CIOs possibly achieve all these diverse goals and expand their role to become business strategists, talent leaders, and innovative growth drivers as well? For many, the answer lies in focusing on value, credibility, and influence, as the video above explains. As a start, sharing this video with C-suite peers could spark some productive conversations.

“There has never been a more exciting time to be a CIO—to lead the enterprise through rapid change,” says Anthony Stephan, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP. “Now is the time to demonstrate the courage to step up and lead the organization into the future.”

Opportunity Abounds for Courageous CIOs

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About Deloitte Insights

Deloitte Insights for CIOs couples broad business insights with deep technical knowledge to help executives drive business and technology strategy, support business transformation, and enhance growth and productivity. Through fact-based research, technology perspectives and analyses, case studies and more, Deloitte Insights for CIOs informs the essential conversations in global, technology-led organizations. Learn more